Sogdiana: From Bukhara to Boston

A Place to Start

Why should I have a blog? This is something that I wondered about for a while before I decided to create one, and the simple response I came up with was a question itself....why not? I haven't seen any other Central Asian people with blogs, let alone Bukharians or Tajiks or anything remotely resembling my own origin (if I am wrong, please write to me, I would love to check out your blogs and link yours to mine). I figured that as a 20-something Central Asian American Muslim living in Boston, I might have a somewhat different perspective than what might be out there. I feel that as a member of a minority community, it's important for me to speak out in whatever way I can to make my voice heard, and do my part to reach out to others, and this blog is a small part of it. I feel that if people like myself do not make an effort, we will allow ourselves to be defined by the media, and by ignorant government officials both in the West and in the Muslim world. This blog represents my (very) small initiative to help shed light on one of the most obscure parts of the world, the land of my ancestors...Central Asia. We are the descendants of some of the greatest civilizations the world has known, whose names have faded into the realm of myth. Only now, with the "war on terror" at the forefront of US policy has the spotlight of history once more chosen to shine on this land, but it remains plagued by tyrants, ethnic hatred, the international drug trade, a wrenching economic transition, foreign interference, and a host of other problems. And yet, through it all, the beautiful and intricate cultures of the region continue to flourish, weathering the storm of the age as they have weathered countless others. For those of you visiting my blog, I would like to say -

Xush Omaded - Umedvor hastam ki ba blogam boz ham bargarded!

(Translation from Tajik: Welcome - I hope that you will return again to my blog!)

posted by TojikYor @ 7:31 PM